Weed cutter



March 23, 1943. i

N. E. BROOKE 2,314,685

WEED CUTTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Sept. 19, 1940 elvtor;

al bi-mam liiBroo/ua,

March 23, 1943. N; E. BROOKE 2,314,685

WEED CUTTER Original Filed Sept. 19, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vial;JfirmamEBroo/ae Patented Mar. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICENorman fizfi ll efl aflifigton, D. 0.

Original application September 19, 1940, Serial No. 357,477. Divided andthis application October 16, 1941, Serial No. 415,304

' 2 .Claims." (Cl. 30-315).

that it may be secured to a handle of its own, and'c'onstitute anindependent implement or tool.

The invention has been divided from my application Serial No. 357,477,filed September 19, 1940, since maturedinto Patent No. 2,268,066 datedDec. 30, 15941.

One'cf the objects of the invention'is to provide a cutter element, thebody of which will partly surround or embrace thehandle, thus giving thecutter a strong lateral support.

Another object is to secure the cutter to its handle in such a way thatit may be quickly and easily removed and replaced. A further object isto produce a cutter which shall be sufficiently long to enter the groundand sever the root of the objectionable growth; but which shall be oflight metal, and yet shall have great strength and stiffness.

Another object is to give the lower or cutting end of the tool a spoonshape, forming the same from the material which is used to strengthenthe sides of the blade; and, further, to form the body of thespoon-shaped cutter so that the cutting end can be thrust into theground and be moved beneath the surface in a path approximately parallelthereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my invention applied to a rake handle,the rake also being shown;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the cutter applied to its handle, part ofthe handle being broken away, and with the wing nut shown in Fig. 1removed;

Fig. 3 also is an enlarged view of the cutter applied to its handle, thehandle and cutter, however, being turned approximately 90 from theirposition in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the under side of the cutter and handle;

Fig. 5 is a section through the cutter, taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, there isshown a cutter and a handle 30 therefor, and a rake head also attachedto the handle. The rake head comprises spring tines it, having theirlower portions ll bent from the plane of the body of the rake to formgathering ends, and their opposite end portions provided with eyes l2.The tines are mounted in or supported by bridles l4 and '20,"which areconnected at their ends by members 2! and 22'. A rod 25 passes throughthe eyes l2, and is secured at'its ends in the bridle structure, thusholding the tines in position in the bridles. This construction is shownand described more fully in my said parent application No. 357,477,mentioned above.

The body of the rake, comprising the tines and the bridle structure, issupported at two points: at the front, by bowed springs 68, which aresecured at their ends to the bridle 20, and between their ends to thehandle 38, by bolt 48 and nut 45'; and at the rear, by bolt 50 and nut5t, connecting the handle 30 and the bridle M. This rear supportinvolves also the spring 5! and 52 and the washer5l'. 1 The springsupporting means, broadly speaking, is shown, described and claimed inmy United States Patent No. 2,205,827; and the exact spring constructionhere illustrated forms the basis of certain of the claims of myaforesaid parent application No. 357,477, and is no part of theinvention claimed in the present application.

The cutter proper is indicated as a whole by the character 40, and isbest shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. It is this that constitutes thesubjectmatter of this application. The body of the cutter-blade isrelatively long, and perhaps may be best described as being in threesections, although preferably made from a single piece of metal. Thiselement, for special reasons is p erably made as a channel-bar of anysuitable cross-section, so as to give lateral strength to the blade.

The several sections of the blade may perhaps be best described as thefastening end M, by which the blade is secured to a suitable handle; thecutting portion 42; and the relatively long intervening or body portion.

This body is preferably in the form of a channel bar, the sides of thecutter bar being the sides of the channel bar. While the cross-sectionof this bar is here shown as semi-cylindrical, the shape is not of theessenceof the invention, and a bar of any preferred crosssection may beused. In this case, the handle of the rake 30 is cylindrical in shape,and therefore the channel-bar, which rests over and part- 1y embracesthe handle is approximately semicylindrical in shape.

This form of cutter makes it practicable to have a relatively long bladeso that it may reach deep into the ground, and yet have sufiicientlateral strength to withstand rugged use. Therefore this is not a merearbitrary arrangement,

but the shape makes it possible to have a long blade, a blade thatallows a long distance from the end of the handle to the cutter proper.Thus the blade can be forced deep into the ground Without the end of thehandle contacting the ground.

The cutter 40 is provided with a hexagonal opening 54, Which is of ashape and size to serve a a wrench for the several nuts used in theconstruction of the implement. This opening 54 is of course larger thanthe body of the bolt 44 which passes therethrough and on which the wingnut 45 is secured to hold the cutter to the handle. Above and below theopening 54 the cutter body is provided with circular openings 53. Theupper opening (Fig. 2) passes over, but rather closely surrounds, thenut '50 on the bolt 50; and the lower opening 53 passes over, and alsorather closely surrounds the nut 46 on the bolt 46. Each of the openings53 preferably engages the corners of one of the nuts 46 and 50, and thusprevent lateral movement of the cutter 40 notwithstanding the hexagonalopening 54 does not closely engage the body of the bolt 44. Thus thewing nut 45 is enabled to clamp the cutter to the handle; yet the cuttermay be easily removed, merely by removing the wing nut.

The lower portion of the cutter body has its sides 11' spread out, as at48 (Fig. 5), and the material thus spread formed into a concavoconvexcross-section both laterally and longitudinally, Or to what may betermed a spoon shape, as at 42. Since the cutter body is not flattenedcompletely, the strength of the channel bar is retained; but thematerial is flattened sufiiciently so that the cutter can readily passthrough the ground. The cutting portion 42 of the tool is still furtherstrengthened by ribs 42', 42, which are struck from the body of thespoonshaped portion.

The end 42 of the cutter body is notched as at 43, and sharpened, sothat it may readily sever objectionable vegetation.

When a cutter of this type is thrust into the ground, it may be causedto move beneath the surface but substantially parallel thereto for easycutting of the root of the objectionable growth. The severed vegetationcan be removed in any desired manner.

As here shown, and as explained more fully in my application No.357,477, above referred to, the cutter and its handle, when used withthe rake, are of such relative length that the rake may be stood uponthe ground by resting it upon the cutter and the ends of the tines.

I claim:

1. An elongated channel-shaped blade for a weed cutter, the sides of thechannel being adapted for a portion of their length at one end of theblade to grasp the sides of a handle adapted to rest in the channel, andthe material forming the sides of the channel being spread at the otherend of the blade and more or less flattened to bring this end to both atransverse and lengthwise curvature or spoon shape, the end of thespoon-shaped bowl being formed into a notched cutting surface.

2. An elongated channel-shaped blade for a weed cutter, having at oneend means for securing the blade to a handle which is adapted to rest inthe channel and be closely embraced by the sides thereof, and at theother end having transversely and longitudinally curved spoonshapedcutter, the cutter proper being formed by spreading the sides of thechannel so as to give the :cutter the desired width and curvature.

NORMAN E. BROOKE.

